Slotting cutters having cutting inserts mounted in cartridges are known. Such slotting cutters are found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,775, U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,456 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,823. A typical slotting cutter of such a kind comprises a slotting cutter tool body with a disc like shape having a cutter axis of rotation. The slotting cutter tool body has a peripheral surface that extends between a front surface and a rear surface. A plurality of cartridge pockets are formed along the peripheral surface of the slotting cutter tool body. A cartridge is mounted in each of the cartridge pockets. A cutting insert is retained within an insert pocket in each of the cartridges.
There are several types of slotting cutters that differ from one another according to their function. A first type of slotting cutter has cartridges having cutting inserts mounted in insert pockets such that the cutting inserts cut in the peripheral direction of the slotting cutter for performing, for example, a slot or for milling a narrow face.
A second type of slotting cutter has cartridges having cutting inserts mounted in insert pockets such that the cutting inserts cut adjacent one side of the slotting cutter, i.e., adjacent its front surface or its rear surface, as shown, for example, in the slotting cutters of FIGS. 2 and 4. This type of mounting may be used for milling a side wall of a pocket or cavity, or, to perform face milling when the axis of rotation of the slotting cutter is positioned perpendicular to the face of the machined workpiece.
A third type of slotting cutter, as shown for example in FIG. 5, has cutting inserts mounted within insert pockets in corresponding cartridges that are alternatingly arranged around the peripheral surface of the slotting cutter. In such an arrangement a given cartridge retains a cutting insert that cuts adjacent the front surface of the slotting cutter tool body, and, a succeeding cartridge retains a cutting insert that cuts adjacent the rear surface of the slotting cutter tool body. This type of slotting cutter may be used to mill both shoulders of a slot as well as the bottom of the slot.
Since the slot should be milled to a specific width dimension, it is essential that the axial distance between the axially oriented cutting edges of two consecutive cutting inserts (see numeral W in FIG. 5) be accurately set. Furthermore, there are types of cartridges that can be axially adjusted so that different width slots may be cut with the same slotting cutter. To this purpose it is also essential to accurately adjust the axial position of each of the cartridges with respect to the slotting cutter tool body and with respect to each other.
The slotting cutter tool body generally comes with two different types of adapters, referred to herein as “S-type” and “F-type” adapters. An “S-type” adapter is a central opening centered at the slotting cutter's axis of rotation, designed to receive an arbor connected to a spindle. An “F-type” adapter is a generally cylindrical central protrusion at the slotting cutter's central opening constituting an arbor for connecting to a spindle.
In order to assemble the cartridges on the slotting cutter tool body and to adjust them to a desired position, as known in the art, the slotting cutter tool body is mounted on an arbor of an assembling device. Then, a cartridge is mounted in one of the cartridge pockets. In order to adjust the cartridge into the desired axial position with respect to the slotting cutter tool body, the cartridge is knocked directly by a hammer or through the aid of another tool in a forward or rearward axial direction until the desired position, shown by a measurement tool, is reached. After the position of the first cartridge, or of the first two cartridges in case of an alternating cartridges slotting cutter, is reached, the rest of the cartridges can be mounted on the slotting cutter tool body and adjusted in a similar manner with respect to the first assembled cartridge or cartridges that serve as reference cartridges.
Such an adjustment method is very time consuming since the axial displacement of a given cartridge with respect to the slotting cutter tool body, caused by each knock of the hammer or another tool, cannot be accurately estimated. Therefore, even when the adjustment is carried out by a trained worker, there are usually several steps required in order to bring the cartridge into the desired position. This is a difficult task since the size of the required displacement of the cartridge is typically in the range of 0.005 mm to 0.020 mm. With such small displacements required, even a slight knock by the hammer may over-shoot the required displacement in a given axial direction thus forcing the worker to move the cartridge to the opposite axial direction. Practically, the back and forth adjustment may require several stages, an action that may be more time consuming and nerve racking when tight tolerances of assembling are required.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a cartridge adjustment tool for adjusting the axial positioning of cartridges of a slotting cutter that significantly reduces or overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cartridge adjustment tool for adjusting the axial position of a single cartridge with respect to the slotting cutter tool body on which it is mounted.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a cartridge adjustment tool for adjusting the axial position of all the cartridges mounted on a slotting cutter tool body with respect to a reference cartridge mounted on the slotting cutter tool body.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a cartridge adjustment tool that may be used with different types of slotting cutter tool bodies having different types of adapters such as “L-type” and “S-type” adapters.